The Olympic title went to the leader of the Biathlon World Cup, the Norwegian Marte Olsbu Roeiseland, imperial on the firing line by blanking her ten targets, and on the track by crushing the competition in Zhangjiakou.

At 31, she won her second Olympic title in Beijing, since she was part of the golden adventure of the sacred Norwegian mixed relay at the start of the fortnight.

Third in the individual, she has climbed on the three podiums at stake so far in China.

At the Worlds-2020, in Anterselva (Italy), she had won seven medals, the maximum possible, with five titles (sprint, mass start, relay, mixed relay and simple mixed relay, the latter not being Olympic).

Sunday in pursuit, Roeiseland will start with a solid mattress, since her first competitor, the Swede Elvira Oeberg, silver medalist in the sprint on Friday, will start 31 seconds after the Norwegian, while the Italian Dorothea Wierer will be 37 behind. seconds on Roeiseland.

On the unusually lightly windy shooting range of the Chinese station, the French obviously did not find the right settings, with one fault each on the first prone shot.

On the standing shot, only Anaïs Bescond knocked down the five targets, which allows her to be "placed" for Sunday's pursuit.

Marte Olsbu Røiseland crowned in sprint at the Beijing Games, February 11, 2022 on the site of Zhangjiakou Tobias SCHWARZ AFP

"There is a bit of frustration, but I'm happy all the same, because it's much better than on the individual," explained Bescond, only 30th with four shooting errors on Monday.

No prosecution for Chevalier-Bouchet

"I was more in my skiing. I have a little regret on this ball which escapes me on the lying down, I have a little regret on this last lap, where I did not have as much energy as I would have liked," she added.

She will leave in a group of five biathletes one minute from Roeiseland.

With around thirty seconds behind Wierer, Bescond can hope to achieve the same feat as in 2018, when she won the bronze medal in the pursuit, making an incredible comeback after a failed sprint (19th place).

At the time, she had made up for a delay of fifty seconds on the podium.

The game looks much more complicated for the other two French women in Sunday's pursuit.

Two, since Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet, Olympic vice-champion in the individual on Monday, experienced a real ordeal on Friday.

Penalized by a poor 6/10 in shooting, she only took 68th place and will not be able to line up for the 10 km pursuit, reserved for the first sixty in the sprint.

Julia Simon on the 7.5 km sprint track of the Beijing Games, February 11, 2022 in Zhangjiakou Tobias SCHWARZ AFP

"I was not present. There was no rhythm. From the first 30 meters, I couldn't go there. I know that it took me a long time to digest my medal. may have cost a little”, lamented Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet.

Julia Simon and Justine Braisaz-Bouchet achieved the same shooting performance, a 7/10 which relegates them further in the standings.

Simon finished in 29th place just under two minutes behind the new Olympic champion, while Braisaz-Bouchet finished about forty seconds behind her teammate.

© 2022 AFP